Australia details big wish-list in defence white paper

Australia’s defence white paper, which was released on Saturday, has a wide-ranging wish list that aims to revamp the country’s military in the next 20 years. This envisages a big growth in the defence budget, which is bound to face opposition from various groups.

Here are some highlights relating to military aviation, with hyperlinks to the key sections in the white paper itself.

The Royal Australian Air Force’s “potent and flexible air combat capability is a cornerstone of Australia’s defence posture,” says defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon. “Control of the air over our territory and maritime approaches is critical to all other operations in the defence of Australia.” This includes:

The Royal Australia Navy should “operate closely with air combat and maritime surveillance and response aircraft to establish sea control, and project force across our vast maritime environment,” says Fitzgibbon. This will include:

The Royal Australian Army must be “capable of conducting joint land combat in a complex operational environment and be able to defeat incursions onto the Australian mainland, territories and offshore installations,” says Fitzgibbon. This entails: